A Warlock's Ascent

As soon as he can, Dave got on the horse and pulled his reins, then that magnificent beast started running frantically. While he rode toward the horde of monsters, he realized something crucial, after distracting the horde, he didn't know how he will escape. Maybe he should have given his point more thought before he started riding toward a bunch of monsters…

Thanks to a rich customer back in his weed-selling day, he had learned how to ride a horse. That customer's dad was a very rich fellow, and he used to breed horses for races. They had a ranch with 50-60 horses and he had ridden many of them. The only difference between those horses and this one was of saddles and leather seats. And those things helped a lot in riding.

As this horse didn't have anything on its back nor did it have any sort of support for its legs, riding it was becoming a very tedious job. The only thing great about this horse was its speed, and its white color, because of which he was able to gather the attention of monsters, thus shifting them from their current path…

With monsters at his back, Dave started leading them in another direction far away from his friends. While riding, he started appreciating the horse more and more as this thing had a lot of stamina and was perfectly keeping up with his running requirements.

After running for a few minutes, he started noticing that fatigue was catching up to the horse. It was slowing down. He looked back and saw that big monsters like the giants and porcupines were not following him anymore. He hoped that those dangerous monsters hadn't gone in the direction of his friends. While small monsters like wolves which were being ridden by green color humanoid beings were still chasing him. And they seem to be getting closer to him.

Looking at the situation, he knew that he had to formulate a plan, fast. Looking around, he saw a patch of land in some distance, that patch had dense vegetation of trees. From where he was, the trees looked very dense. And in the darkness under the canopy of trees would give him a higher chance to get rid of those monsters at his back.

Thus he instantly changed his direction and started making his way toward the trees. His horse was slowing down every second, but Dave still pushed him as hard as he can. While running towards the tree line, he then remembered a scene from the old action movies that he once watched. In that movie, the protagonist gets stuck in a similar situation that he was in.

So when the protagonist gets near a patch of land such as this one, he jumps on the branches of the tree and leaves the horse running. The running horse then creates a distraction, thus luring away the enemies far away from him.

Remembering that scene, he started to think that he should try the same maneuver. But the problem was that he was having doubts about whether he would be able to pull it off or not.

He in no sense was an athletic man. He was a little bit muscular because of his work in storehouses in the past. But still, he didn't have enough muscle power to pull himself up a tree branch or even perform a pull-up. Thus he was having doubts. But it was then he remembered that when he killed the giant porcupine, he got 5 stat points that he never used.

Thus as fast as he could call his stat window. And then invested all of his stat points in his strength…

And as soon as he got into the line of trees, he saw one of the trees had a fat branch on it which he could grab. He slowly stood on the horse's back, as slowly as he could, while maintaining balance. When he got near the tree, he instantly jumped and grabbed the tree branch. The increase in his strength stat gave him enough boast power, that he was able to pull himself up the branch.

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His horse ran straight, deeper into the tree line. He summoned his sword from his inventory and waited. Soon enough small humanoid figures riding wolves entered the tree lines and they all followed the fleeing horse.

He stayed up there for a good 10 min or so, making sure that those guys have left. Only when he was sure that he was safe, he finally came down. Now alone in a dark tree line, he started thinking about what he should do.

There were 2 options in front of him. He could either stay here or make some distance between himself and this patch of land. If he goes back to the grasslands, then there was a chance that any monster could spot out in the open and attack him. But if he stays here then there was a chance that those creatures riding the wolves could come back to look for him. And he doesn't know whether he was up for a fight or not…

After thinking for another minute, he decided that he would stay here for the time being. This way he would be hidden from the majority of big monsters out there which he was sure could kill him within seconds. As far as those little monsters were concerned, he had to take a chance.

As he made his decision he brought out his shield and started going deeper into the tree line. He wanted to scout the area to see whether there are any monsters in there or not. And he was grateful that he did it. As he made his way deeper into the tree line, he was assaulted with a very unpleasant smell. A smell that he was familiar with, because of his work in a slaughterhouse.

He raised his sword and put up his shield and started making his way toward the smell. He wanted to see where this smell was coming from. There was a chance that there was no monster around here and the smell was just coming from the dead body of an old animal. But alas, he was wrong…

Beyond the fat tree in front of him was the source of the smell. He crouched down and slowly started making his way toward the tree. There were old leaves on the ground which when stepped upon could alert any monster around him. Thus while being extra careful he made his way toward the tree.

As he got to the tree, he slowly peeked. And when he did, he was shocked as there was nothing beyond the tree. There was a small clearing just beyond the tree, like a spotlight, moonlight shined brightly onto that clearing, other than he could spot anything. After making sure that there are no movements around the clearing, he got up. And sure enough, he soon saw what was the source of the smell.

There was a huge amount of blood spread all around the clearing. Most of it had seeped into the ground making the soil red, but still, there were small puddles of blood all around the clearing. Seeing the amount of blood, he crouched down and inspected one of the puddles.

The puddle had converted into a red glob, which was a sign that blood had been here for a long time. He steered the puddle with his sword, only the upper layer of the puddle was made not made of red glob. Seeing this he started sweating profusely and instantly got up. He raised his sword and started looking around wearily…

Blood is a miraculous liquid. It helps humans and other creatures seal their wounds, with the help of an interesting property. When it is exposed to air, it starts drying up. And after it had fully dried up, it seals the wound.

The thin glob was the proof that the blood had been there for some time. But when he stirred the puddle he saw that most of the liquid hadn't solidified yet. Which meant that this blood was not as old as he previously thought.

Now alone in the clearing, he started cursing himself. Staying here was the dumbest idea that he had. He should have made some distance between himself and this land when he had a chance. Now he was stuck here.

While looking around him, he was getting worried that he wasn't able to see much. There was some light in the clearing, but beyond that, he could not see anything. He looked around and saw that he was surrounded by darkness and there was apparently no way out.

As he could not spot anything he started to think that he may be wrong. After all his information about the blood and its properties comes from survival shows that he used to binge-watch on Earth. And as he started to doubt his knowledge, it was then he heard it…

CRACK

It was the sound of leaves cracking. Someone was here. He then started looking in the direction where he heard the crack from. But it was then he heard it again.

CRACK

But this time he heard the noise from his back. He instantly turned around. And still, he was greeted with darkness and nothing else. He then heard another one.

CRACK

But this time, the sound came from his right. He turn there but he could not see anything. And then hell was sent loose. He started hearing cracking noises from random directions. He was surrounded by multiple creatures or humans from all directions.

He started sweating more heavily. It was then he heard it…

ROAR!!!

When Dave heard the roar, he damn near pissed himself. It sounded terrifying. But the most terrifying thing about the roar was that, after it had sounded, the land was once more engulfed in pin-drop silence. No more sounds of the crackling of dried leave reverberated around him. And it was only after a second or so, he started hearing something terrifying…

GRRRR

It sounded like a slow growl of a dog. And then he heard the sound of branches crackling from above the ground level, from the canopy of the tree. And before he could spot or see anything something landed in the clearing, in front of him. It was then he saw the thing that had been terrifying till now.

It was a humanoid beast. Grey fur covered its body, and for hands, this thing had claws, which looked very sharp. The beast's hind limbs were shaped similarly to that of a dog, while the paws of the creature were big enough that it could stand on its two hind limbs. The thing is exactly like a werewolf that he saw in a movie once. But unlike a werewolf, this creature had a human-like face. It had big black eyes. While there were two long slits on his face for its nose. It had a rather big mouth with strong, sharp, and pointy teeth which were covered in blood.

As he saw the creature and sensed the blood lust in its eyes, he felt like crying. He was scared. He wanted to run away but in the back of his mind, he knew that he was surrounded and there was no way that he would be able to run away.

It was then the creature leaped at him and tried to scratch him with his paws. Luckily his reflexes kicked in time and blocked the blow with his shield. Sparks flew out with the clash of the creature's claws and shield.

The creature was very aggressive, as it saw that his attack before was nullified, it used its other claw to scratch him. It was an instinct or maybe it was reflex, but before the creature's other claw could make its way to his shield, he swung his sword towards it…

When he first came to this world, he tried using his sword. He tried to swing and saw that it was pretty heavy and it would take a lot of time to get used to the sword. But now as he swung it, the sword felt very light. In fact, it could be said that it felt too light.

And as soon as his sword touch the creature's skin, it cut through it like it was melted butter.

GRRR!!!

The creature growled and stepped back as it felt the big cut on his torso. While he on the other hand got a pretty big confidence boost, he realized that maybe investing all of his stat points in his strength had given him a very significant edge in this fight.

But the creature was angered by the cut. It took a few steps back. Seeing this, he thought that the creature was retreating. But he was wrong.

After taking a few steps back, the creature got on his four and came at him with great speed. As it came closer, it jumped on him, trying to tackle him. He was startled by his move. So he raised his shield in the creature's trajectory in the hope to block its attack.

BAAAM

He was successful in blocking the creature's attack. But the momentum and the force of that attack made him fall back. But while falling, he had an idea, thus immediately he thrust his sword forward, toward the creature's stomach.

And sure enough, while falling he was able to feel the blow landing successfully. But the creature didn't die with the blow. As they fell to the ground, the creature started struggling and waving his arms and legs around. While Dave tried to push away the creature with his shield. It took some time but the creature stopped struggling.

.........….

You have slain a Kobold.

.........….

You have been awarded 10 exp for your feat.

.........….

He pushed the body away from him and got up. He instantly pulled out his sword and looked around. The tree line was engaged in silence once again. But it was then slowly three more creatures came from the darkness and started growling at Dave.

Seeing this, he just cursed his bad luck. He then got into a stance and started thinking about a plan on how to handle the situation.